Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A big joke

The
entire saga of India's “milestone in History” or the $42 Aakash
Tablet computer, is turning into a big joke.

Second
version of this computer called Aakash II, was launched by none other
than the President of India on 11th
November 2012, in New Delhi, at an event celebrating National
Education Day. The day marks the 124th anniversary of the birth of
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the first education minister of
independent India.

This
version is powered by a 1 GHz processor, has a 512 RAM and 7 inch
capacitative touch screen and Android 4.0 operating system. It would
be supplied to students at cost of Rs. 1130/- or $ 21 and is expected
to remove many snags and shortcomings of the first version. The 50%
subsidy tag would be picked up by the Government of India (read as
taxpayers).

The
first version of Aakash was launched in October 2011, where students
were handed several hundred tablets. The device was found to be
unsatisfactory by most as it had a resistive touch screen and a
battery with a very short life. The Government then handed over the
tablet to Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, for up gradation,
who have now come out with the new design.

This
tablet was praised by the Government as a milestone in history and
would be recognizqable by future generations because it would be Made
in India. It was supposed to be a cheap and durable tablet computer
for India's Millions of students and a source of national pride for
Indians from the country and settled abroad as a proof of India's
position as a world leader in cheap innovation.

Government
of India tender, for manufacture and supply of these tablets, was
awarded to one Canadian company, called DataWind, run by Mr. Suneet
Singh Tuli, the chief executive. Data Wind had then announced plans
to set up factories in India for manufacturing the tablets.

NewYork
times has recently carried out an investigative report on
manufacturing activities of DataWind. The report says that DataWind
has contracted 4 Indian manufacturers. Their status is as folows;

VMC
Systems, in Secunderabad; confirms the contract but refuses to talk
about volume of production.

A
subcontractor based in Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi says that
this is the company’s first-ever contract for manufacturing
tablets and has not yet started production.

Digital
Circuits, in Bangalore, signed an agreement to produce tablets in
August but says that they had not produced any tablets for DataWind
so far. They also have no experience manufacturing tablets in the
past.

Vinyas
Innovative Technology, from Mysore also confirm having been
contracted by DataWind, however refuse to give any further details.

It is
obvious from New York times report, that this plan of manufacturing
the tablet in India is a colossal failure so far. Prof. Deepak
Phatak, professor from IIT, who is in charge of this project confirms
this and says Datawind’s original subcontractors in India could not
deliver the tablets. He added that DataWind had a contractual
obligation to deliver the entire batch of 100,000 tablets by Dec. 31.
If company fails to meet the obligation, it may face legal action
for breach of contract. I.I.T. Mumbai has already sent a warning
letter to the company.

New
York Times also contacted DataWind themselves, who have been giving
strange answers to the queries and more or less confirms that
manufacturing is not being done in India. Here are some replies from
the company.

Combined
production capacity of the four subcontractors and DataWind’s
assembly facility in Amritsar, Punjab, stood at 3,000 units a day.

Touch
screen of the tablet was being manufactured by DataWind’s facility
in Montreal, Canada, and that his company had designed the software,
mechanical parts and motherboard.

For
expediency sake the motherboards and kits are manufactured in
company's Chinese subcontractor’s facilities, and kits have been
sent to India for assembly.

The
assembly and programming of the units was done at DataWind’s
facility in Amritsar and at a Delhi office, he said Monday.

To get
the clear overall picture of what is actually happening? New York
Times made investigations in China and the replies from Chinese
manufacturers reveal the entire game plan of DataWind. Here are the
replies received by New York Times from Chinese manufacturers.

Kalong
Technology, which operates from Hong Kong, says company had
manufactured at least 500 A13 tablets for DataWind. And confirms
further, that all parts are manufactured in China. Company assemble
the tablets and load Android operating system on them. DataWind
provided the design for the tablet and added its own software onto
the tablets.

Dasen
International Electronics, based in Shenzhen, says that Datawind
had purchased 4,500 tablets from them in three separate batches. The
components of the tablets are made and assembled in China, but the
design has been worked out by the company with DataWind.

Another
company from Shenzhen has also confirmed that they have supplied A
13 tablets to DataWind

As per
details found out by NewYork Times, the total number of tablets
ordered from the four companies in China, is 11,000, with the price
to DataWind ranging from $42 to $42.86 each. It is obvious that
DataWind has supplied 10,000 computers from this manufacturing lot to
IIT Mumbai before inauguration of the tablet by President of India
and there has been no manufacture of this computer in India at all so
far.

It
would be obvious to any one that this computer is being manufactured
in China and then DataWind is just distributing it. Government of
India might as well just buy the tablet from China directly and give
it to students in India. They might save couple of Dollars.
Manufacture of Aakash tablet project has become a big joke.

The
government agency that is in charge of the project, the National
Mission on Education Through Information and Communication
Technology, now plans to float a new tender soon for the next phase
of Aakash, which will manufacture a few million tablets. Those will
be eventually distributed among students. That
is what I call real perseverance(?)